Thread: Wanna see an anvil or 2 or 200 ?

Picked this up on Long Island almost 10 years ago.

If I lived in Kansas I would be bidding on this one. I am sure it could take a resurfacing job without loosing anything noticeable. 1800's Antique 317 lb Square Anvil Railroad Blacksmith Forge Iron Hammer Vintage | eBay

"" Btw, it's interesting that the very old anvils in that collection resemble small altars.""

Who, but a god, could shape iron into a sword ?

and you guys are inventing AAD

Interestingly, back in the day, smiths were considered in the same category as priests, and smithing was considered near magical. That's why I thought it was interesting that the older ones actually resemble an altar.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

I bought one at a barn sale a couple mos. back, british made,250 lbs.$1 a lb.had two tools of sorts that fit into a Sq. hole on the topside(I know sqawtola about anvils) got it loaded into the truck,paid the toke, when I came back a couple guys were on it like flys on chit.
Made an offer I COULD not refuse,What the hell am I going to do with an anvil? NADA

Some people use them as garden ornaments, which is a bit sad if the anvil is still good.
The square hole is called a hardy hole, and can be used to fit a variety of small tools, such as chisels or swage blocks. If you mount a chisel, you can cut bar stock quickly without needing a second person. If you need to forge special shapes, you could mount a swage block with a special shape, on which you could hammer out your special shapes. There are several other things you can do.

There are thousands of different tools which can be mounted to make the smiths life easier. Many of them are still in use today. I was told that there are smiths helpers in the smithing museum, of which today noone remembers their use. Weirdly shaped pieces of metal that fit a hardy hole, whose purpose is lost in the mists of time.

Smithing is a race against the clock. Not only in terms of working fast to make more money, but also because as soon as you pull the stock out of the fire, it starts cooling down and you need to get as much work done as quickly as possible.

Originally Posted by Tarkus

Hey guys check this one out. I went over to one of my vendors and I saw this huge anvil on the bench. I remarked "Boy you dont see one like that too often. He told me to try to lift it, and much to my surprise I picked it up with ease. He made the entire thing out of sheet metal as a practice too his sheet metal skills. Welded it with stick as well. Totally blew my mind. Way cool.

Attachment 128307

That is very nicely done.
In terms of resembling a real anvil, there are only a couple of details wrong.
First of all, it needs a square hardy hole (somewhere on the surface which is inside the circumference of the anvil base) and a round punch hole (somewhere on the surface which is outside the circumference of the anvil base).
And secondly, the 'step' between the anvil surface and the horn is usually a bit wider. As it is, this one is not really usable from hammering or chiseling.

You don't need one anvil, you need two anvils!! I'm sure if I ever tried this, I'd know exactly where it would come down, and that would depend on where I chose to park my rig.

How to Shoot an Anvil 200 Feet in the Air - YouTube

Small anvil I just made.



Semi gloss, Mirror is not so good for an goldsmiths anvil, with 60w halogen lights and 12x head loupe you almost go blind!
The rough bottom part is actually not so badly made as it looks, it was cut with plastic and copper sheet metal.

Edit; it's a piece of S10-70/10 mining rail

Thanks for the input guys, some great anvils here !!

Okay so this anvil hunting is a lot like bass fishing for me now. I had a nibble today and it was a 189 pound Ameritige Mouse Hole for 300. I did some research while I waited for the call back and found it dated about 1875, forged layers of wrought iron up to the top of steel . I was ready to set the hook but I went to look at the ad again and it was taken down. Another 1 got away.